by Bianca James
“Don’t fight it,” he whispered in her ear.
Words failed her. She couldn’t fight the feelings burning inside her even if she tried. And she most definitely did not want to try.
The heat from his body percolated through his clothing only to be absorbed hungrily by her needy body. He was unnaturally warm, but at least she now understood why. The logical part of her mind told her it could not possibly be so, but deep down she knew what he had told her was true. Of that she had no doubt and she wasn’t in the least bit afraid. She wasn’t afraid of him and she wasn’t afraid of what he was. Not being afraid defied all logic and that was what scared her the most.
An aching need was surging within her and when she looked into his eyes, she saw the same primal need reflecting back at her. His gaze burned with raw lust and his eyes raked her body from head to toe, filled with promise as what was to come. Suddenly she felt an urgent need to feel his hot flesh against hers and she began to claw at his shirt, exposing his rock solid abs to her needy touch, as if she’d been deprived of such a sensation for far too long and couldn’t wait a moment longer.
“Kiss me,” she purred into his mouth as her lips hovered desperately over his.
Her demand was met with a crushing, possessive kiss that screamed of his need and desire for her. As if feeding off his passion, she responded in kind and they explored each other’s mouths in a frenzy as they continued to tear each other’s clothes off, abandoning them in a trail of lust as they made their way to the mansions master bedroom.
By the time they reached their destination, the palatial bedroom with its oversized windows, they were both naked. Their bodies limned by the moonlight that filtered through the windows.
“My God, you’re so beautiful,” Bryce muttered as he took a moment to break from her embrace and feast his eyes on her.
Fighting the urge to cover her curves and flee into the darkness and protection of the bedcovers, Saira tried to relax into the unfamiliar idea that someone found her to be beautiful and expressed it so sincerely. Instead, she stood her ground and reveled in the sensation of being hungered for. And from the hunger that blazed brightly in his eyes, there was no doubt as to Bryce’s feelings, or his intentions.
With a low, predatory growl issuing from his throat, Bryce stepped forward and scooped Saira up in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all and carried her to the opulent four poster bed. As he laid her down on the silky sheets she noticed just how hard he was. Her eyes must have given something away when she took in the generous length and girth of his well-proportioned member. Even in the moonlight she could see the pulsing network of veins that encircled the huge shaft which was crowned with the most enormous, bulbous head she had ever imagined. It was a thing of beauty, but once again her mind began to overthink the logistics of being impaled by such a huge cock.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow and give you time to adjust,” he reassured her as if reading her thoughts, which, in fact, he had.
“Am I ever going to get used to that?” she quizzed.
Bryce looked down at his throbbing boner, then back at Saira with a confused look on his face. “I sure hope so,” he responded.
Saira slapped his arm hard enough to let him know she was being serious. “Not that,” she chided, “I meant you reading my thoughts. It’s very disconcerting.”
“Then maybe I need to do something to take your mind off it. We don’t want you being . . . disconcerted right now, do we?” he teased as he pushed her knees apart and began to kiss her belly, working his way down in small, circles that caused her to arch her back and mewl in response. Or perhaps in anticipation.
As he began to lick his way down her moist pink folds, a guttural moan escaped her throat.
“Are you alright?” He stopped licking long enough to check that she was alright.
Words failed her. All she could do was make a keening sound in response as she nodded. She felt as if she were on the edge of a precipice with very little standing between her and the unknown depths beyond the brink. As much as she felt like letting herself go and giving in to the orgasm that welled within her at the very thought of his lips and tongue against her ripening bud, she couldn’t give in to it. Somehow it felt brazen and lewd. Wrong. What would he think of her if she wailed like high school girl having her first orgasm? She fought against her natural urges and tried to think of something else.
His tongue brushed along the length of her folds, stopping only to circle her clit with torturous flicks before returning to her belly and tracing soft kisses across her soft skin.
To hell with it, she thought, abandoning all self-control. Maybe it was time for her to stop being the practical and rule abiding academic princess and be a little more wanton and shameless. If she couldn’t feel confident being her true self with Bryce, then maybe he wasn’t the one for her. She knew he was and with that thought, the reticence receded as she found her voice again.
“Don’t stop,” she growled, fisting handfuls of his hair and pushing his head back toward the epicenter of her pleasure. She was so close now, she couldn’t wait a moment longer as she forcefully guided his mouth down upon her throbbing clit and thrust herself hard against his mouth. Feverish with urgency, she bucked and groaned while she reefed his soft hair with her fingertips. The only sound she could hear was the determined laving of his magic tongue against her clit and his muffled breathing.
The sudden eruption of her climax caught them both by surprise and Bryce remained trapped between her quivering thighs as wave after wave of the most intense pleasure swept through her. She could no longer hear the sound of his labored breathing, only screams and wails that sounded wild and primitive. Only as her climax subsided did she realize that those sounds were coming from her.
Chapter 18
Blane knew his time had come, his time to shine and achieve the recognition he deserved. At last he’d discovered something that would make him famous. In turn, that fame would make him untouchable, his brother, too. Not even The Circle would dare harm either of them if doing so attracted undue attention and risked exposure. This had all the hallmarks of becoming the big break he so desperately needed.
Not that he didn’t already have a certain reputation in the academic world. After all, he’d had a number of scientific papers published in reputable journals, spreading his name far and wide within the lecturing community. So what if none of those papers were actually his own, original work. Wasn’t it he who fostered these fresh young minds to explore and seek new paths of discovery? Didn’t he deserve some recognition for that?
None of them would have earned so much as a second glance from any journal submission committee had they been foolish enough to have submitted the work themselves, under their own name. No, he was doing them a favor and they had the audacity to accuse him of being lazy and stealing their work. Plagiarizing was what that little know-it-all bitch had called it. And she had the nerve to point her accusatory finger at him. How dare any of them, come to think of it. Ingrates, every last one of them. Now he had an opportunity to show them just who they were dealing with and what could be achieved if you were bold, smart and put in some hard work.
The thought of being the first man of the modern age to locate and capture a living, fire breathing dragon shifter made his skin prickle with excitement. His chest swelled with pride as he imagined the kudos he’d receive worldwide from the media exposure surrounding his accomplishment. The added bonus of being able to dish out some payback to that sneaky bastard for smashing his face and making a fool of him brought a smile to his face and added a spring to his step as he strode purposefully across the quadrangle toward the historic stone arches that opened to the cloisters beyond which lay his office, in the heart of the oldest university in the English speaking world — the University of Oxford.
With his feet resting nonchalantly on the highly polished oak desk, Blane brought his steepled fingers to his lips as he pondered his next move with all the confidence that cam
e from operating in a familiar environment. Like a random collection of fragments from an archaeological dig, the pieces of the puzzle swarmed around in Blane’s mind as he struggled to come up with a solution. He had no leverage to bring his quarry to him. That shipped sailed when the oily little shit broke his little princess out of the bunker. What he needed to do now was work out their next move so that he could be ahead of them, for a change and be waiting for them.
Finally it came to him. No doubt she had worked out the secret to controlling the coins by now. He was sure of it. She might not be as smart as he was, but Blane was absolutely certain that she was smart enough to have figured that out. A wicked smile danced across his lips but it didn’t reveal itself in his cold, dark eyes. Only his evil intent was evident in his soulless gaze.
Snatching the phone from its cradle, he punched the speed dial of the university’s travel agent and began to hum The Sound of Music to himself while he waited for the call to connect.
Chapter 19
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked softly, her fingers exploring the contours of Bryce’s abs as they heaved and tensed in unison with his sharp intakes of breath.
“Can I catch my breath first?”
Slowly her fingertips snaked their way down the light dusting of hair that formed a trail from his taught stomach to his hardened shaft. Then she worked her way back up again as it twitched in response to her tantalizing playfulness.
“Have you told anyone before?” The interrogation continued.
Bryce shook his head. “Not about the coins or what we are. Who would believe us, anyway and any who did . . . well, let’s just say that they wouldn’t take it well. People don’t like things they don’t understand or can’t put in a box.”
“So your ancestor, the one who buried the coin he was a . . .” The word got stuck in her mouth.
“A dragon shifter, yes. But he went rogue. He fell in love with a human woman who’d been promised by the chief of her village to another chief as part of an alliance. It was his duty, his responsibility to safeguard the coin but instead, he tried to run away with her, using that treasure at the museum to buy a safe passage and start a new life.
“What happened to them?”
They died in battle, after burying the coin hidden among the other coins and trinkets.”
“How awful,” Saira sighed and cast her eyes down in silent reflection.
“Things were certainly different back then.”
“So . . . what does that mean for us? How do we fit in with your duty to safeguard the coin?” Saira asked, raising her eyes to meet his gaze.
“Like I said, things were very different back then. There’s a chance we can work out a plan to protect the coin and be together. But for that to work, we have to work together, even if it means doing things you never thought you’d be able to do.”
“Like what?” A skeptical look crossed her face and her eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on his as she awaited his response.
Straddling her with his legs and pinning her arms above her head with one hand, Bryce crushed his mouth to hers, forcing her lips open with an intense and zealous kiss. Now was not the time for explanations. It was time to claim his mate and make her his. They would have the rest of their lives to talk.
Saira bucked her hips, nudging the head of Bryce’s cock with her mound. “Do you think I’m ready for that?” Although a playful smile was evident on her lips. Bryce could see the anxiety and trepidation in her eyes.
“We’ll start off slow. You have to trust me. If you can do that, it will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.”
“I think I know that feeling.” Now the smile showed on her lips and in her eyes.
“Well, not wanting to boast, but that was nothing. But seriously, dragon shifters aren’t the type who’ve pillaged and plundered through the ages. Okay . . . maybe a little plundering, but we’ve always had mates for life and once we claim them, we protect them forever. Does that scare you?”
“Of course not. I want this. I want you to claim me.”
Bryce hesitated and in that brief moment, Saira took control and reached down to engulf Bryce’s manhood in her hand and guide his shiny crown between her wet, eager folds.
“Make me your mate,” she wailed in command.
Thrusting her hips toward Bryce, he met her thrust as he plunged his full length hungrily into her waiting depths, forcing her to stretch to accommodate his size.
A sharp intake of breath at the unexpected feeling that she might almost be torn apart was quickly replaced by a feeling of exquisite pleasure that seeped through every part of her body, from the inside out. It was more than raw sexual pleasure, though. It was far more than that but she couldn’t find the words for it. It was as if the euphoric sexual sensations welling up within her were being accompanied by a profound sense of well-being.
Suddenly, she knew what was happening. She was becoming Bryce’s mate and all that it entailed flooded through her in a way that defied explanation. She knew what it meant and that’s all that mattered in that moment.
Chapter 20
Simon’s fingers drummed a tuneless tattoo upon the tabletop as he twirled the Fisher Space pen between his fingers at a dizzy pace. To his coworkers, nothing about his behavior would have seemed out of the ordinary, had they even bothered to take notice. Which they didn’t.
In fact, Simon’s ego would take quite a battering if he ever found out just how little attention people in the office actually paid to him. Simon was a geek. A nerd. Everyone knew that. It was his job, his mission, to provide technical and tactical support to the real heroes — the operatives in the field. They were the ones who garnered the ‘attention’ of the female staff and the reluctant admiration of the male contingent.
Simon might as well have been invisible.
And that was a good thing, given his current dilemma. He felt he owed Bryce for the way the agency had used him and blackmailed him. Using the threat of imprisonment to force someone to risk their life for their country never sat right with Simon. Besides, he knew that Bryce was enough of a patriot to do pretty much anything he could if it would serve Queen and country. But they’d never bothered to ask. That’s what irked Simon the most. He truly believed that in many cases, the velvet glove approach would yield far better and more sustainable results that the iron fist approach the agency chiefs insisted on.
It even made him sick the way they insisted he keep monitoring Bryce’s activities long after he’d parted ways with MI6. The man deserved more respect than that and he should have some expectation of privacy after all he’d done for the bigwigs who ran operations from the safety and comfort of their offices in the glass tower, single malt whiskey and cigar in hand.
Now he had a chance to do the right thing. A chance to really do something to help a man he’d come to regard as more than just another agent. Bryce was his friend. One of his very few friends. There weren’t too many opportunities for friendships in this business.
The limited edition writing instrument carried an engraving to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, an event that happened long before Simon was born, yet an event that managed to capture his imagination from the time he was a small child. An event that became the catalyst for his interest in science and all things geek.
The pen had been a gift from Bryce after a particularly hair-raising mission from which Bryce only managed to escape unscathed due to some quick thinking and highly illegal hacking by Simon. The pen was something of a joke between them. Simon kept all of his notes and calendar entries on his smartphone. He never, ever wrote anything down on paper.
Thrusting the pen into his shirt pocket, Simon began tapping away at his keyboard. He only hoped his requisition would be dispatched in time to be of use to his friend.
Chapter 21
Wrapping her legs tightly around Bryce’s waist, Saira met his thrusts with equal and unabashed fervor. There was no holding back, now. She was his mate a
nd nothing could stop them enjoying each other to the limit. It felt safe. It felt right.
The thick muscles in Bryce’s back ebbed and flowed beneath his soft skin in time with his thrusts as he plunged himself into her. Time and again. Saira’s fingernails clawed at his back in a frenzy of ecstasy while her mouth desperately sought his. She felt empty without his tongue exploring her.
His increasing pace lit a fire in her belly and she gripped him tightly before realizing that her nails might gouge his flesh.
“Did that hurt?” she panted against his cheek, ceasing her frantic clawing.
“You can’t hurt me. Just enjoy this and let yourself go,” he whispered into her mouth as his lips joined with hers in a deliriously deep kiss.
Their sweat slicked bodies pounded together over and over, each wild thrust bringing them both closer to release. Saira couldn’t hold back any longer. She’d tried for his sake, but now the sensations growing inside her had taken on a life of their own, one over which she had no control.
“You sure you want this?” He broke their kiss and looked into her eyes as he asked.
She knew exactly what he meant and she knew this was the final chance to say ‘no’. She nodded. Words weren’t necessary and she figured he knew what she was thinking, anyway.
In answer, she reached down to Bryce’s taught, trim ass and dug her fingers hard into his muscly cheeks, pulling him into her, harder and deeper. Her legs were still wrapped firmly around his thighs and she raised her feet to hammer his butt, driving him into her to the hilt.
She felt his entire body tremble and that was soon followed by a liquid heat that flooded into her as he climaxed inside her. Arching her hips to take every last drop of his seed inside her, she let the orgasm that had been amassing in her belly have free rein. Coming in unison felt so right and so complete. Their eyes met as the waves of pleasure subsided and she knew she had become the mate of a dragon shifter. It was real, despite how crazy that might have sounded before she met Bryce.